Among this week’s performing arts openings are Doubt: A Parable at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Pericles, Prince of Tyre at Marquette University, Secrets from the Wide Sky at Danceworks, and a concert and masterclass by organist Jon Gillock at the Church of the Gesu.
THEATER
Doubt, a Parable
“We are living in a culture of extreme advocacy, of confrontation, of judgment and of verdict,” writes John Patrick Shanley regarding his Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play, Doubt, a Parable. Discussion has given way to debate; communication has become a contest of wills. Public talking has become obnoxious and insincere. Why? Maybe it’s because, deep down under the chatter, we have come to a place where we know that we don’t know…anything.”
It’s just this sort of highly relevant and topical material that drew Milwaukee Chamber Theatre director C. Michael Wright to Shanley’s play—set at a Catholic school in the Bronx, New York; a school that holds a terrible secret. “I find Shanley’s approach to especially difficult subject matter to be courageous, multi-layered and totally riveting,” Wright says, adding that it holds special relevance for him, personally. Wright wasn’t only raised Catholic, but was an altar boy in 1964—the very year in which Doubt, a Parable is set. This play contains mature content. (John Jahn)
April 12-29 in the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit milwaukeechambertheatre.com.
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Ask any number of people to name the first play by William Shakespeare that comes to mind, and zero will say Pericles, Prince of Tyre. One reason is that The Bard wrote so very many plays in general; secondly, the pedigree of this particular play is somewhat in doubt (it’s now commonly believed to have been written, at least in part, by Shakespeare); thirdly, well, it was just never one of his biggest hits. Which doesn’t mean it’s bad! In fact, viewing an unearthed gem, regardless of that gem’s comparative value, is still the always-rewarding task of making a fresh discovery.
Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a seldom-produced Jacobean play—a fairytale adventure, to be specific—about a prince fleeing a dangerous adversary and, by doing so, sailing from kingdom to kingdom finding adventure and romance along the way. Though not without its tragic moments, Pericles, Prince of Tyre fairly brims with intriguing characters as only Shakespeare can create and presents us with a still-relevant morality tale of family and life’s lessons worth passing on. (J.J.)
April 12-22 at Marquette University’s Helfaer Theatre, 523 N. 13th St. For tickets, visit showclix.com/event/pericles-prince-of-tyre.
DANCE
Secrets from the Wide Sky
The women of Danceworks Performance Company and the intergenerational guest artists they’ve assembled for their new, original, evening-length dance-music-theater concert started the process by confiding, openly or anonymously, personal secrets they’d never told anyone. The show’s choreographer Dani Kuepper carried those secrets to her friend, the Minneapolis poet Jennifer Kohnhorst, who transformed the confessions into texts to be spoken by the dancers in performance. Each secret is shared, each individual source is protected. The choreography responds to specific secrets and the acts of revealing and receiving them.
Milwaukee composer/violinist Allen Russell, a master dance accompanist and multi-stylist who has created scores for Milwaukee Ballet and Danceworks and is a regular participant in the music-dance improvisations of Hyperlocal MKE, joined the development process to make a musical score for dancers who are also sometimes speaking. Russell will perform his score live.
“I realized that when you choose secrets as your subject, you create an almost ominous feeling,” Kuepper said. “So how to deal with that? First, let it go there. Let it be honest and real. You learn that we’re more the same than we are different. Some performers addressed shame. Their secrets made me think of things I’m ashamed of and helped me to forgive myself. Then how do you transfer that energy to the level of lighter secrets? Our teenaged performers helped me with that. My 40-something worries versus 15-year-old worries comes into play. I won’t reveal the punch line.” (John Schneider)
Performances are April 14-15 and 19-21 at Danceworks Studio Theatre, 1661 N. Water St. Call 414-277-8480 ext. 6025 or visit danceworksmke.org.
MORE TO DO: THEATER
Things My Mother Taught Me
Katherine DiSavino’s touching comedy Things My Mother Taught Me is an intergenerational play about ordinary life and extraordinary love. At its center is a newlywed couple, Olivia and Gabe, who are settling into their first place together. To their shock, many friends and family members begin showing up at their two-bedroom apartment—with the best intentions, of course, in helping the young couple get their lives together smoothly launched. An element of the play with which we can all surely identify is the recognition of how parents are able to pass on their best lessons to their children without even intending to do so. This dinner theater production includes plated and, on certain play dates, buffet dinner options. April 13-22 at Memories Ballroom, 1077 Lake Drive, Port Washington. For tickets, call 262-284-6850 or visit memoriesballroom.com.
Darn Yankees
The game of baseball often serves as a metaphor for life, but for the Toledo Mud Hens, it’s a metaphor of pointlessness. The “Mudville 9” haven’t won a game in ages, but when they add an ace pitcher, things are about to start looking up. Darn Yankees is sure to be a hit with baseball fans, but holds relevance for us all. It’s a mixture of baseball lore and legends (Abner Doubleday, the Sultan of Swat, Mighty Casey and others make appearances). This Waukesha Civic Theatre production runs April 12-15 in the Margaret Brate Bryant Civic Theatre Building, 264 W. Main St., Waukesha. For tickets, call 262-547-0708 or visit waukeshacivictheatre.org.
Book of Days
Lanford Wilson (1937-2011) was an American playwright whom the New York Times once described as an “earthy realist greatly admired and performed.” His 2000 play, Book of Days, was his penultimate work in that genre. This UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts production, directed by Raeleen McMillion, keeps rather faithfully to Wilson’s original script and setting. The latter is Dublin, Mo., where we find a woman portraying Joan of Arc in a community theater production who, shall we say, begins to take her role a bit too seriously. April 18-22 at the Kenilworth Five-O-Eight Theatre, 1925 E. Kenilworth Place. For tickets, call 414-229-4308 or visit uwm.edu/arts/box-office.
The Book of Moron
Robert Dubac’s one-man show and Off-Broadway hit, The Book of Moron, pulls no punches and holds nothing sacred as he maintains a scorched earth policy with regard to every subject under the Sun. Sex, race relations, religion, politics, the media; all these and more suffer gut punches from Dubac’s satirical wit. Things are very serious these days in Donald Trump’s deeply divided America; here’s an opportunity to learn to laugh at ourselves a little bit and remember how fallibly human we all are. April 13 and 14 at the Marcus Center’s Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414.273.7206 or visit marcuscenter.org/show/the-book-of-moron.
MORE TO DO: CLASSICAL MUSIC
Organist Jon Gillock
The Milwaukee Chapter of the American Guild of Organists hosts an appearance by one of the world’s most renowned interpreters of the music of Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). Jon Gillock will perform a concert and give a master class on a 115-rank Schantz-built pipe organ. He’ll hold a pre-concert conversation at the Haggerty Museum of Art on Sunday, April 15, 1:30-2:30 p.m., with the concert at 3 p.m. at Church of the Gesu, 1145 W. Wisconsin Ave. Gillock’s masterclass will be held on Friday, April 14, 1-4 p.m., at Gesu as well. To attend either or both events, visit agomilwaukee.org or call 414-510-6276.
The Queen’s Six
Early Music Now hosts a sextet of vocalists—two each of countertenors, tenors and bass-baritones—called The Queen’s Six. Though they all live within the walls of Windsor Castle where they perform regularly for Great Britain’s royal family, the “queen” of their title is actually Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned 1558-1603. It is from her era that they get their concert program for “Sacred and Profane: Music of the Tudor and Jacobean Courts.” Featured British composers include William Byrd, Thomas Tallis and Orlando Gibbons. Saturday, April 14, in St. Joseph Chapel, 1501 S. Layton Blvd. For tickets, visit earlymusicnow.org.
Florentine After Dark
The Florentine Opera’s Studio Artists—Rachel Blaustein, Ashley Puenner, Edward Graves and Nathaniel Hill—present a concert of solo and ensemble cabaret songs from the U.S., France and Germany in a relaxed atmosphere. As with all such “Florentine After Dark” concert events, this takes place in the Milwaukee opera company’s Riverwest headquarters, not Uihlein Hall, where they put on their full-fledged opera productions. April 13 and 14 at the Wayne and Kristine Lueders Florentine Opera Center, 926 E. Burleigh St. For tickets, call 1-800-32-OPERA or visit florentineopera.org.
